The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-04-25
RELIEF FOR CONSERVATIVES
How the New Treatment Is Being Re-
ceived by Physicians in Indiana.
Some Of the Doctors Have Little Faith in 1t,
but Many Are Experimenting with 1t
Another New Remedy.

subject OF a conversation between small group
of doctors. in the editorial room of the Indiana
Medical Journal on Saturday afternoon. when
Journal reporter called to inquire of the edit
ors of that periodical, Drs. Brayton and Fereu-
son, how the new remedy was being received by
the medical profession in Indiana, and what
progress is being made in it's use While
there have been many inquiries from physi-
clans Of this city and neiehboring towns
regarding the apparatus and the mode
of treatment, DR.. Ferguson stated
that many doctors whose patients nave been
doing we'll under the accepted methods. have
refused to the new treatment Dr.
Chambers, who happened in the Office for mo-
ment, said that he should not be surprised II In
six weeks three months this wave OF gas
would pass over, and physicians and patients
would settle down to the old methods of treat
ment, looking to good nourishment. favorable
climate and supportiye measures. DR.. Brayton
said he had seen the new treatment tried in one
OF DR.. Elders cases. which appeared to be bene-
flied. However. he was not at all saneuine of its
success Physicians" he said always hope
on; they tried everything in reason. and held on
to what is good. Many patients have been able
even recover from it. The first patient to take
the treatment of Dr. Maxwell has already died.
am told. and was not benefited by it,
''But was not his case already in articulo
morris, SO to speak, queried the reporter.
"Yes DR.. Maxwell did not promise h i'm any
thing; the patient in fact, urged the treatment.
Dr. MaxwelI. like all leavelheaded doctors 1
suppose, makes no promises: he simply reports
hat H.
diarrhea, controlling the night sweats increas-
ing the appetite and weight, diminishing the ex
pectoration and the cough, SO that patients sleep
well at nights, as is claimed in France and in
PHILADELPHIA hospitals, of course our physicians
are justified in trying the new remedy. Medi-
cine gets results in hundred ways physicians
cannot explain. We do not know the mode of
action of the standard medicines, opium,
quinine and mercury. nor do we know just how
bread and water and oxygen support life and
yet use these substances. and by their aid ar
rest disease and keep patients alive. There is
more in medicine and physiology than IS
dreamed OF in the philosophy Of their most
There seems TO be a determination to give
the new consumption cure a good trial." re-
marked the reporter
Eyes, but the determination comes from the
patient rather than the doctors The public
press is largely responsible. The excellent re-.
port in last Wednesdays Journal of the discus
zion Of this cure in the Marion County Medical
Society. for instance, was no doubt read by hun
dreds of consumptives all over Indiana. Con.
sumptives jump at every new treatment like a
drowning man at a straw. They are always
better, they think with every change-cnange
of climate. Of diet. of treatment, and change of
doctors. even. There are few patients so brave.
and SO sangune and hopeful consumptive pa
TENTS OF course. the doctors who are appealed
to have to try the new treatment; if they don't
the patient will have a doctor who will Then.
again. it is the p.ysicians duty to do all in his
H.
method or medicine does the work. 1t is the
result he is after; he would like to have always
reasonable theory, but theory must often be
held subordinate to practice"
lis the new method expensive to the patenty'
mo; the apparatus is neither complex nor ex-
pensive. Any pharmaceutical chemist or edu-
sated druggist can prepare it in hour. The
cost is slight: the chemicals and apparatus few
and simple. The doctors are now waiting on
the rubber companies to make them the gas
bags. Ycu can't get gas bag holding gallon
and half in this city nor in Chicago. st. Louis
Or Cincinnati. Even the air pillows and large
fountain syringes have all been distended with the
gases and put into use. A football would stand
no show in a rubber store now provided it does
not leak. Mr.. Hurry, who has made over TWEEN
ty-fve sets of the apparatus for out-0f-town doc
tors, says that he has telegraphed the country
over for bags to hold the gas. There are half a
dozen doctors in town every day to learn about
the apparatus and to consult with the physicians
here who are treating patients with it"
How do the members of the profession re-
gard the treatment
1.-The ply sicians of this city that have talked
with, are conservative. They remember the
other promised cures-some ouack, and some
not quack, and some mixed There was the
compound oxygen cure a decided quack cure all
including consumption Then the pneumatic
cabinet, Of which Dr. j. L. Thompson said that
with reporter inside to report to the daily jour
nals was the most stupendous piece of mechan.
ism for inpressine the laity ever brought into a
AnHfn 20 ffINa tn tha y,Wnfoc $pa q
time, had great faith in Churchilrs hypophos
phites, but, as DR.. Waterman said at the society
we have tried these things and then, again and
again, have fallen back on good nourishment-
the use of whisky and cod liver oil.
DR.. Ferguson remarked that Russian phys
clan has proposed and tried analine- inhala
tion cure, which is noticed at length in the cur
rent number of the Indiana M edical Journal.
How does analine actl' quered the reporter
81 thought it was used as a dye only"
Yes, and that was the means of its discovery
rs consumption remedy. In coloring the tn
bercle bacillus it was found to be killed. and 81
the inhalations were taken into the lungs.
has also been proposed to fight fire with fire. /
consumption is a contagious rather than hered
itary disease as ia coming more and more to be
believed. the bacillus that causes it may b.
driven out by another bacillus, as the perniciou
foxtail is rooted out by the benefcent bue grass
in meadow. Contoni chose the bacterium
terma as his knight Grant to wage war on the
bacillus OF consumption. He claimed good re
suits. Bacterium terma is harmless in tn,
lungs it is abundant in the air, and causes man,
benefcent putrefactive changes. 1t is a kind o
animal scavenger."
"What per cent of cases have recovered from
consumption under the old treatment
There is no constant per cent replied DR.
Brayton. "Loomis, Of New York, claims tina,
one-sixth Of his cases have recovered in the las
ten years. He thinks the morbid processes ma
be arrested in their early stages in large pro
portion Of the cases. The record shows that il
chronic consumption the average duration o
life is between three and four years. less il
younger subjects. The arrest recovery de
ponds on climate variety. food. treatment. an,
many valuable factors beside. There is no gen
eral law for all cases. 1t is to be hoped that tn
new treatment may help to stem the tide O
death, but the profession will know that by al
other year In this country. They know no more
or little more. about the new way now PRACTICAL
than their patients themselves"
Treading on the heels of the sulphureted nv
drogen treatment comes another medical discoy
cry. 1t Is new antiseptic, and is called .asep
SIM or "nascent wintergreen" The frst sam
pie arrived in the city on Friday, and NUN be
of physicians have already examined It, Aser
sin is the discovery Of Cincinnati chemist VIII
claims for it remarkable power MAINTAINING
that, as an antiseptc, it is second only to corre
sive sublimate, and greatly TO be preferred I
the latter, for the reason that it is non poison
ons. A number of Cincinnati physicians ar
very enthusiastic about il. and say that il
surgical value Is certain. 1t is beautiful in Ar
pearance, being in feathery white crystals an
possessing decided odor of wintergreen and